Weighted Sum of Income Distribution

Field: Weighted Sum of Income Distribution - Whole Population

Description

Weighted sum of income distribution – whole population is the estimated total number of individuals in the population in the financial year, where the underlying sample of individuals in the Family Resources Survey (FRS) has been weighted or 'grossed up' to represent groups of individuals with certain characteristics in the whole population.

The population represented in the FRS has changed over time:

1994/95 – 2001/02: Great Britain
2002/03 onwards: United Kingdom

Quality Statement

Please note:

Updated 2023/24 questions for material deprivation items for children, working-age adults and pensioners were introduced into the 2023/24 FRS and asked to 75% of households. The remaining 25% of households were asked the old questions (2010/11 questions for children and working-age adults and 2009/10 questions for pensioners). To provide responses and reasons for households asked the old questions for the updated measure, imputation included using responses and reasons where old questions were similar. Estimates using the old questions and old methodology and 2023/24 questions and updated methodology are not comparable. Further information can be found in the Technical report: update to measures using material deprivation for households below average income FYE 2024, which accompanies the release of the HBAI 2023/24 statistics.
2022/23 data has been revised in the 2023/24 release to correct a Cost of Living payment omission in the underlying Family Resources dataset. Data for this year may be different to that published within the 2022/23 release. Further details can be found in the 2023/24 Main Report.
Data collection during 2022/23 and 2023/24 was mixed mode, with most of the achieved sample responding to the FRS via a return to face-to-face interviewing. For the two-year period spanning the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, interviewing was conducted via telephone only. Changes in estimates since 2019/20 and between subsequent years should be interpreted being mindful of the differences in data collection approaches across the period and the effect this had on sample composition.
All estimates of material deprivation for 2022/23 should only be directly compared with periods up to and including 2019/20. During 2020/21 (not included in this dataset) and 2021/22, several of the questions asked as part of the material deprivation measure were affected by government restrictions introduced in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Further details can be found in the technical report which accompanies the annual release of these statistics.
Development work in 2022/23 to improve reporting on categories of level of education identified a separate issue with the FRS variable EDUCQUAL. As a result, split by level of educational attainment of the individual has been withdrawn from the 2022/23 data. This has been restored for 2023/24.
During 2022/23 the government announced and implemented additional support to families with several cost-of-living support schemes, depending on peoples' circumstances. These payments are included as part of the relevant income variables in HBAI.
From 2021/22, income received from director's dividends is included in the estimates following an addition to the Family Resources Survey. From 2022/23 they are only included where directors are classed as employees following a methodological review. The income is treated as income from earnings.
For the 2021/22 estimates, wages are treated as income from employment rather than state support, irrespective of any support payments from Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) that the respondent's employer was receiving in respect of their employment. Amounts received through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) for the self-employed are indirectly included as part of the reporting of profit data for the most recent available tax year.
Data collection during the financial year 2021/22 was via telephone interviewing as opposed to the established face to face method used prior to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. While the achieved FRS 2021/22 sample was larger and more representative than in 2020/21, there remains some residual bias in the FRS sample resulting from change in mode and therefore 2021/22 estimates and changes should be interpreted in this context. Further details can be found in the technical report which accompanies the release of the 2021/22 statistics.
Data relating to 2020/21 is not available in Stat Xplore due to data quality concerns affecting many of the HBAI estimates calculated below UK (headline) level for that year. Further details can be found in the technical report which accompanied the release of the 2020/21 statistics. This report details the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the size and composition of the FRS sample.
In the 2019/20 statistics a minor methodological revision was made to capture all income from child maintenance. As a result, the full back series (back to 1994/95) was revised. Gov.uk publication files issued prior to 2019/20 may contain slightly different figures. Please refer to the HBAI Quality and Methodology Information Report for more information.
Since 2019/20, the level of savings and investments for both families (benefit units) and households has been estimated using a slightly different methodology. Further information can be found in the FRS Background and Methodology note.
As advised in a Statistical Notice published in May 2016, HBAI has made a methodological change to use variants of CPI when adjusting for inflation from the 2014/15 publication onwards. Prior to the 2014/15 HBAI publication variants of RPI were used to adjust for inflation. Therefore, all tables created here will use CPI-adjusted inflation and so will not be consistent with published tables prior to 2014/15.
The tables use grossing factors based on 2011 Census data, so caution should be exercised when making comparisons with published reports and tables prior to 2012/13 as well as taking into account the 2019/20 minor methodological detailed above.

Further information can be found in the HBAI Quality and Methodology Report here.